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Residents urge Flint council to pass vacant-property registry ordinance to curb blight
Summary
At a public hearing on ordinance 260134, neighborhood residents and association leaders urged adoption of a vacant-property registry to reduce blight, encourage renovation and hold out-of-state owners accountable; speakers cited land-bank figures and urged reasonable exceptions for bona fide sales or renovations.
Flint residents and neighborhood leaders asked the city council on May 26 to adopt an ordinance aimed at identifying and holding owners accountable for vacant homes and commercial properties.
Jim Richardson, representing the Central Park Neighborhood Association, said the ordinance would "encourage rental and occupancies of properties that have been vacant" and deter outside speculation that leaves properties derelict. "This ordinance will help reduce blight and dangerous properties and hopefully prevent some tragedies," Richardson said during the public hearing.
Several neighborhood residents and organizers supported the proposal, saying reasonable exceptions were written into the draft to allow short-term vacancy while owners sell, renovate or seek tenants. Lesie Beamer, co-founder of a local doula house, cited land-bank estimates and urged the council to enable rehabilitation so young families can move into neighborhoods. "When we restore homes, we restore hope," Beamer said.
Some property owners urged caution. Richard Bush said he maintains a vacant lot and warned against punitive taxes that might penalize responsible neighbors and urged enforcement priorities such as improving land-bank action and not duplicating existing blight tools.
Speakers repeatedly cited an estimate — "approximately 5,000 to 7,000" vacant homes and commercial structures — from the land bank during the hearing. Council members closed the hearing after multiple residents spoke; no final vote on the ordinance was recorded that night.
The ordinance will return to later council consideration; advocates called the measure a first step toward revitalization and urged council support.
